Stewart,
I wld normally play this as yr option 3.
You may not be aware that playing just the octave of a bass course is in
fact specifically notated in a number of sources for the'baroque' lute
roughly contemporary with Losy. Two come readily to mind: Mouton's books
and the book by Von Radolt (see FoMRHI article) - I seem to recall the
Burwell instructions also mention it but I don't have a copy of this Ms to
hand. This technique is not as tricky as it first seems especially if the
separation between the two strings of a bass course is not too small
(indeed, in line with that found on extant 11 course lutes). Also the very
significant difference between string thickness (if using gut rather than
overwound) enables one to feel the string under the thumb before plucking.
The notation is generally to use a capital letter for the bass and low case
for the octave eg //A .........//a. I presume if the bass is not notated
one needs to judge from the context.
You'll also be aware that this sort of problems appears all the time in
baroque guitar music and especially the change from 3rd to a 4th course
(with the higher octave string of the 4th on the bass side of the
instrument ie touched by the thumb first). Notwithstanding the above about
lutes, on the guitar I find it is, in fact, possible to alter the angle of
attack of the thumb to emphasise the octave or the bass, perhaps this is to
do with the octave being on the other side of a pair as on the lute, And,
of course, the limited range of the instrument and the idiosyncratic
writing for the instrument also allows rather less academic part writing.
Martyn
"Stewart McCoy"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED] To: "Lute Net" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
rve.co.uk> cc:
Subject: Losy Menuet
14/01/2004 19:02
Dear All,
Following on from the discussion about problematic voice-leading in
the theorbo music of Melii, and whether an octave-strung second
course might be the answer, I wonder if anyone has any comment about
an unusual passage in a Menuet by Losy. The piece appears in an
anthology of Czech baroque lute music: Emil Vogl (ed.), _Z
Loutnovych Tabulatur Cesk�ho Baroka_, Musica Viva Historica 40
(Prague: Editio Supraphon, 1977), page 44. The source is given as
"Kremsm�nster, ms sign. L.78". The opening bar includes an ascending
scale in campanella style, i.e. not playing successive notes on the
same course:
|\ |\
|\ |\
|\ |
| |
__________a_____h___g)______h___
____a________f____|_____f_____|_
_______g__________|___________|_
_h________________|___________|_
__________________|___________|_
__________________|___________|_
a
A similar phrase occurs at the start of the second section, but for
the little ascending scale to work you would need an octave-strung
6th course. That in itself is not unreasonable, but how exactly
should c6 be played?
1) Carry on regardless, pluck with the thumb, and hope the higher
octave gets heard enough;
2) Pluck the 6th course with the index finger to favour the upper
octave;
3) Pluck just the upper octave of the 6th course with the thumb.
|\ |\
|\ |\
|\ |
| |
___________________________________
_____________a_____|_____________|_
____a_____d________|__________d__|_
___________________|______c______|_
___________________|_____________|_
_______a___________|_____________|_
a /a //a
My feeling so far is to go for the first option, but in this
particular context the octave 6th course creates an unsatisfactory
impression of consecutive octaves, not doubling at the octave as it
normally would.
My third option is not totally zany, because if the thumb has played
the 7th course with a rest stroke (appoyando), it is possible to
roll it over the 6th course to touch just the upper octave in time
to pluck it.
Any thoughts?
Best wishes,
Stewart.
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